Bioarchaeologists have to be careful when excavating mummies—mostly because the burial shroud, the body and everything else in the sarcophagus might turn to dust if mishandled. There were other reasons to be careful, of course, and that’s because mummified cadavers usually came prepackaged with some sort of arcane Egyptian curse. 

Not all curses originated in ancient Kemet, however. For example, the mummy in Kristopher Rufty’s latest novel acquired its curse after it was smuggled into the U.S. back in the 1950s. Originally used as a tool for revenge, the mummy was still out there mindlessly killing people in the 90s. Says Veronica Leer, the monster’s reluctant caretaker: “It continued killing because that was what it had been awakened to do.”

Now roaming the woods of Bushy Hill, North Carolina (more likely Archdale, NC), the mummy was having a ball killing unsuspecting teenagers on Halloween night. If you grew up watching trashy horror videos from the 80s and 90s (like me and my sick friends), The Sleepover Mummy Massacre was written just for you. 

You’ll recognize all the main characters: the three high school girls having an unsupervised sleepover, all the horny guys hoping to crash the slumber party, an ex-boyfriend making trouble, a quirky cast of doomed red shirts and, don’t forget, the ever-lovin’ monster. 

It’s clear that the author had no interest in deconstructing these well-worn horror tropes. And that’s okay with me. The mix of gore, teen angst and softcore porn was all part of the fun. There’s nothing meta going on here. 

Although Rufty avoids anything overtly self-referential, he does play around with some cruel foreshadowing. For example, one of the sleepover girls briefly worries about her younger brother traipsing through the nearby woods at night. Oh well, she says with a shrug, he’s just a dumb kid. “If he’s out causing mischief, then he has to suffer the consequences that come with it. Whatever they may be.” 

To be honest, the only disappointing thing about The Sleepover Mummy Massacre was the mummy itself. Despite having an axe buried in its skull for most of the book (!!), the mummy was basically a generic avatar for any living corpse wrapped in linen. In other words, it slouched, it shambled, it mumbled and it smelled like an open grave. Even the author admitted that it looked exactly like every mummy ever seen in film or animation. “It was just a mummy,” he said, “a moanin’ mummy.”

[ The Sleepover Mummy Massacre / By Kristopher Rufty / First Printing: May 2025 / ISBN: 9798283020174 ]